"Laura"

Meet Laura.....Laura was one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet and I was proud and happy to call her a friend.     Do you see that smile?   She was always smiling!!                

I pretty much either texted or emailed Laura every morning.  She was one of those friends that checked in every day with her friends even if it was only a hello or invited you to play Words with Friends or in my case, she was always sending me links to quilts and projects that she thought "we" should do.  We'd text back and forth and would inevitably order the pattern, share with one another and then get working on it.  I have a binder in my sewing room that is called the "Laura Binder" and it's just the projects her and I worked on together.  

This here is "PEPE".  He's Laura's praying mantis friend.  I don't remember how it started, if Laura was afraid of them, liked them or just thought they were "icky" but one year at our annual May quilting retreat I'd ordered probably 10-12 of these little praying mantis's and gave them out to some of the girls.  Laura named her's Pepe and one of the girls knitted him a hat.  I think Laura made him a quilt and I know my little friend of Pepe has a little scrap of red and white polka dot tied around his neck....  mine sits on my OTT light over my machine and reminds me daily of PEPE....

Here's another picture of Laura during show n tell...  She was one busy girl.  If you asked her what she was doing she'd say " a little of this and a little of that" and would show up at retreat with about 10 snow n tell projects, one more beautiful than the other.   

This post is all about missing Laura.  On March 15th, 2013 I talked to Laura when I got to work....she wasn't feeling good but didn't think she could go home from work since she was the only one in the office that day.  I texted her that night to see how she was feeling but didn't get an answer.  

I never heard back from her again.  She'd passed away during the night from spinal meningitis......We lost a beautiful soul that night.....someone I will miss forever!!!

This is the last group shot of the retreat girls with Laura.  I can still hear her saying "does anyone else think this is a little creepy?"

I know I can honestly say that I'm not alone in missing her.  The world lost a beautiful soul that night and will be remembered by everyone she touched throughout her short life.

We miss and love you Laura!!!!